The truth about motivation

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Well, here I am. I made it through my first month of my new job. There are pros and cons, but overall I feel less stressed and make a little bit more money. Guess you can't really beat that. My main struggle is the hours, and how best to arrange my schedule. I get up at 1:45am, which isn't as hard as I thought it would be (it helps that I don't hit snooze anymore!), and currently I am taking a nap when I get home to help compensate for my shorter sleep at night. I'm trying to be in bed by 8, so that would leave me with just under 6 hours of sleep for the night. Honestly I would average 6-7 hours when I worked a regular schedule, so I don't feel like I'm losing much there. However, as much as I love naps, it seems to leave me feeling groggy afterwards. I wish I could skip the nap, but I don't care for the idea of going to bed at 7pm either, and know I wouldn't make it for long on only 5-6 hours of sleep every night.

This leads me to my other issue. I had great plans to use my free afternoons to work out every day, as well as take my dog for a daily walk. I'm doing pretty well on taking my dog for a walk, but it is a real struggle to get up the energy and motivation to do a workout. So far I've managed to get in some yoga several days, but I don't feel like it's enough. My food choices have also been a bit out of control lately, and I know that is my biggest issue. I know deep down I'm not doing what I should, or really trying all that hard. Yes, I want to lose weight. I want to feel better about myself. But this magical motivation just never seems to come.

But then I remembered that motivation isn't something you wish for that one day hits you over the head and you suddenly want to work out every free minute of your day. Nope. It doesn't work like that. In fact, motivation is fleeting and fickle. I can read a motivating article or buy a new exercise video or make a healthy pinterest board, and think to myself "This time will be different. This time I'm really motivated to change". And then in a few hours, or maybe even a day or two, suddenly that motivation has vanished and I'm right back where I started. So how do you hold onto that magical feeling?

You don't. If I've learned anything over my years of struggling with weight and not-so-healthy habits, it's that if you wait to be motivated, it isn't gonna happen. So what you do instead is "do it anyway". Need to workout but you're too tired? Don't feel like it? Want to binge watch that show on Netflix instead? NO! DO THE WORKOUT ANYWAY! Are you hungry and don't want to take the time to cook something healthy? Or maybe something unhealthy just sounds so good? Or maybe you aren't hungry at all but just looking to fill a void with food? NO! MAKE THE BETTER CHOICE ANYWAY!

Yes, you will fail. You won't always be able to peel yourself off the couch like you should. You won't always pick the home cooked grilled chicken dinner over fast food. But it isn't about being perfect. It's about trying to do the best you can as often as you can, and remember that sometimes when you just don't feel like it, DO IT ANYWAY!

ANGEL_789
Thanks to all for the encouragement and support! You're awesome! I'm proud to report that yesterday I "just did it", and started a new workout program instead of waiting until Monday, and I plan on sticking with it!960 days ago

ARCHIEFIT
Your "body clock" will adapt to your new waking and sleeping schedule, one tip, stick to the new schedule even on your days off, so you won't have to re-adapt after your days off.

I agree, when you don't feel like doing it, just do it anyway, don't think about it, just do it. In the end you'll be proud of yourself for it. And eventually the pounds will come off, even if not in one or 2 weeks. Stick to your new eating habits and exercise and you've got to see results sooner or later.

That's my thinking, Eat less, exercise, don't eat fat foods (or at least in moderation) and sooner or later I will see results. My overall goal is to lose 60 lbs. In a month I've lost 20 so far, the rest seems to be taking it's sweet time coming off. No matter if I exercise everyday or eat less, scale doesn't budge (I only weigh myself once a week, by the way). But I KNOW eventually this plan has got to work. No one in history has ever eaten so much less and exercised everyday with out the weight coming off EVENTUALLY. So I tell you what I tell myself, Stick to it!960 days ago

LIVELYGIRL2
I can see that schedule would be challenging. So, I think it might add to the motivational thing, but you will retrain yourself. Your doing okay because you are trying to figure it out and adapt. I know what you mean, it is hard to balance exercise with all the commitments and things to do.It would help to have an accountability partner to check in with each other. 960 days ago

KITTYHAWK1949
not easy to adjust to change. you'll figure it out and you have the right idea about not beating yourself up. everyday you try to make the right choices and you'll find you keep making more. you know what is important--walking the dog. ;)960 days ago

PENOWOK
Getting up at that ur is a tough schedule and hard on your body. Now that it's getting darker earlier, maybe you can make that shift to an earlier bedtime. That would free up your afternoons.I am up at 4:15 and know I need to shoot for 8 hours and get at least 7, so that means a pretty early bedtime for me, too. Once it's a habit, it get easier. 961 days ago